In today's connected world we even have wireless internet when flying in the air. However, in-flight cellular voice support has been strictly verboten from the air space for decades.

However, that final connectivity barrier is preparing to fall. Boeing Comp. (BA) today announced that in addition to its 737 connectivity wiring, its popular 747-8 and 787 models will receive new wiring by the end of 2013, which will allow the aircraft's onboard systems to act as a mini-cell tower providing calling capabilities to fliers.

Boeing will also offer a kit to allow older 787s to be rewired to support calling and Wi-Fi by the end of 2012.

The company's arch-rival Airbus (a European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. (ETR:EAD) subsidiary) currently offers similar support for calling on its A330 model, which first entered passenger service in 1994.

The key thing to understand is that support does not equate to the service being enabled in flight. Currently although the 737 and A330 support in-flight calling, only a handful of countries have authorized the service, and only a handful of airlines have enabled it. Among the early adopters is Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, a British airline company, who allowed in-flight calling during transatlantic flights aboard its fleet of A330s.

With that issue monopolizing FAA regulators' time and attention, it is unclear whether the issue of in-flight calling will even receive serious consideration in the next couple years. Fliers can at lesat look forward to using the feature, though, when they visit other nations with less government red tape (like Britain).

If the the relatives had been given the flight information...(Any person with basic intelligence would have done that days before the actual flight)....they could just as easily check the flight status on their phone or online or on the flight apps many airlines provide or all the screens in the airport.

Your excuse is lame and unimaginative. How did people do it before cell phones?

It's two-way communications. The person on the plane is not just confirming their arrival to their pickup. The pickup is also confirming their status to the person on the flight.

I used to do airport pickups by getting there 30 minutes early, paying $2-$5 for parking, and waiting at the terminal (now baggage claim). Nowadays, the perfect pickup is the person calls me when I'm almost at the airport, they tell me which sign they're standing under, and I just swing by, park for 60 seconds, and take off. Many airports even have cell phone parking lots where you can wait (instead of adding to traffic) until you get confirmation your SO has arrived and is waiting for a curbside pickup. If the airport doesn't have one, I'll swing by a nearby McDonalds or Starbucks and leech off their wifi while I wait for the call.

Yes you can do it the old way without a cell phone and waste a lot of time. But the new way is so much better and quicker, you have to be some sort of technophobe to criticize it.